Sarah Palin, née Sarah Louise Heath
(born February 11, 1964, Sandpoint, Idaho, U.S.), American politician who served as governor of Alaska (2006–09) and who was selected by Sen. John McCain to serve as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential election. She was the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket. For coverage of the 2008 election, seeUnited States Presidential Election of 2008.

Palin was less than a year old when her family relocated to Skagway, Alaska. She completed a degree in communications at the University of Idaho (1987) before returning to Alaska to work as a sports reporter at an Anchorage television station. Palin entered politics in 1992 with a seat on the Wasilla city council, and four years later she launched a successful campaign to become that city’s mayor. During her six years in office as mayor, she ushered through a series of infrastructure improvements funded by a sales tax increase, and the city’s operating budget soared.

In 2002 she campaigned for the Republican nomination for the office of lieutenant governor of Alaska. Although she was ultimately unsuccessful, Palin elevated her profile within the party, and she was appointed to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission by newly elected Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski. Palin’s time on the commission was short-lived, however. She resigned after encountering resistance to her investigation of Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chair and a fellow commissioner; Ruedrich later admitted to ethics violations. In 2004 Palin further distanced herself from the party when she joined Democratic lawmakers in their call for an investigation of the Alaska attorney general, who had close ties to Murkowski. This and other issues hurt Murkowski politically, and Palin challenged him for the Republican nomination for governor in August 2006. She defeated him handily, winning 51 percent of the votes in a three-way race, before moving on to a comfortable victory in the general election three months later. Palin became the youngest governor in Alaska’s history, as well as the first woman to hold that post.

Palin, Sarah: Sarah and Todd Palin and Cindy and John McCain campaigning in October 2008Gary C. Knapp/APIn August 2008 she emerged from a field of higher-profile candidates when John McCain chose her to be his running mate in that year’s presidential election. The McCain-Palin pairing subsequently lost the general election to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Still, Palin established herself quickly as a popular figure within national Republican Party politics, and there was intense speculation that she might seek the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2012. On July 26, 2009, Palin resigned her post as governor of Alaska. The following year she became a contributor to the Fox News Channel. Palin garnered further attention as an unofficial spokesperson for the populist Tea Party movement. In February 2010 she delivered the keynote address at the first National Tea Party Convention, and, in the lead-up to the midterm elections in November, her support helped a number of Tea Party candidates defeat more-established Republican politicians in the congressional primaries. The candidates had mixed results in the general election.

In 2010–11 she appeared in the reality television series Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which focused on her family and their outdoor adventures. The Undefeated, a documentary about her life, was released the following year. Palin’s books include the memoir Going Rogue: An American Life (2009), America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag (2010), and Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas (2013).

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